R v Williams (1913) 8 Cr App R 133 (known as the Case of the Hooded Man and the Eastbourne Murder) was a 1912 murder in England that took its name from the hood the defendant, John Williams, wore when travelling to and from court. After the murder of a police inspector in Eastbourne, with no witnesses and little forensic evidence, Edgar Power, a former medical student, told the police that his friend John Williams had committed the murder. Power helped the police conduct a sting operation to catch Williams; police also interrogated Williams's girlfriend Florence Seymour, who then confessed to having helped Williams hide the murder weapon.
However, Seymour later recanted her story, and another man came forth claiming to know the identity of the real killer. This new evidence, along with the behaviour of the judge in both the initial case and the appeal, made the case controversial enough that Members of Parliament from the three major political parties directly questioned the Home Secretary on the matter. Despite many requests for clemency, all appeals were denied, and Williams was executed in 1913. The case was one of the first investigations in Britain to use the emerging science of ballistics.
Background
On 9 October 1912, the driver of a horse-drawn carriage noticed a man crouching near the front door of the house of Countess Flora Sztaray, located on South Cliff Avenue in Eastbourne. Sztaray was known to possess large amounts of valuable jewellery and to be married to a rich Hungarian nobleman. The driver, who was Sztaray's coachman, informed Sztaray of the man's presence, whereupon Sztaray telephoned the police. Inspector Arthur Walls was sent to investigate. When Walls arrived on the scene, he observed a man lying on the portico above the front door. Walls called out, "Now then, my man, you just come down." The man fired two shots, the first of which struck and killed Walls.
The police had only two clues: some footprints in the garden, and a hat that they found in a nearby gutter. The police took moulds of the footprints and endeavoured to trace the hat, but with no success. However, during routine questioning of local residents, police learned that earlier in the afternoon of the murder, a man had been seen sitting with a heavily-pregnant young woman on a bench at one end of South Cliff Avenue; the man had also been seen wandering the street while the young woman sat on the bench alone, leading police to suspect that the man was assessing the lay of the land.
The following day, a former medical student named Edgar Power visited the police, claiming that he knew the identity of the murderer. Power said that the murderer was one George McKay, who was living in Eastbourne under the name "John Williams" with his pregnant girlfriend, Florence Seymour. Power knew Williams through Williams's brother, who was Power's best friend. Williams's brother had received a note that morning from Williams, which he had passed on to Power. Power gave the note to the police. It read: "If you would save my life come here at once to 4 Tideswell Road. Ask for Seymour. Bring some cash with you. Very Urgent." Power told the police that the letter had been written by Williams and that Williams had tried to burgle Sztaray's house and killed Inspector Walls. According to Power, Williams met with his girlfriend, Florence Seymour, after the murder, and the two decided to bury the gun on the beach and send a letter to Williams' brother asking for money to return to London, which was then given to Power. Power's motive in coming to the police was that he was in love with Seymour.
In order to trap Williams, Power asked Williams to meet him at Moorgate Street Station the following day. Police were lying in wait and arrested both Power and Williams at the Moorgate station. Police covered Williams's head with an apron to prevent him from being photographed and thus possibly influencing witnesses. However, no one had glimpsed the murderer's face, and no one selected Williams from an identity parade. Power was immediately released.